Our esports tipster Michael Lee is back with his betting previews for one CS:GO, and two League of Legends matches on Monday, November 14. Today, he looks at the opening fixtures of NEST 2022 Group C and D in EDward Gaming vs Royal Never Give Up and FunPlus Phoenix vs Top Esports, and one CS:GO bout in the first round of the European Pro League Season 3 playoffs between BLINK and KTRL.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, November 14th
EDward Gaming vs Royal Never Give Up
NEST 2022
EDward Gaming and Royal Never Give Up are two of China’s top League of Legends teams, but in this tournament, they’re playing with their secondary rosters, which do not include a single player from the main rosters. So while RNG and EDG are two of the strongest LoL Pro League (LPL) teams, we have to forget about what we know about them from the 2022 season and focus on what their current lineups can do.
And to do that, we have to focus on the performances of the teams’ academy lineups – EDG Youth Team and Royal Club.
Looking at The League of Legends Development League (LDL) 2022 Summer results, EDG Youth Team achieved a lot more than Royal Club, finishing the playoffs in second place. On the other side, Royal Club ended the summer playoffs in 9th-12th place after losing their opening series against ThunderTalk Young (0-3).
That also explains why EDG are priced as 1.10 favourites for this match, while Royal Never Give Up are 7.00 underdogs. But I don’t see this being a fair price.
Royal Club might have crashed out of the LDL Summer Playoffs in the first round, but they were fairly competitive in the regular season. Moreover, NEST is known to produce some exciting results, and I must also mention that I wasn’t too impressed with EDward Gaming’s performance against LGD Gaming on Saturday.
This is a winnable match for Royal Never Give Up. At the very least, they should be able to force a close match, so I have no issues betting on the underdogs with a 1.5 map handicap.
Royal Never Give Up +1.5 maps
$2.10 (1 Unit)
FunPlus Phoenix vs Top Esports
NEST 2022
Top Esports and FunPlus Phoenix fielded two of the best academy teams in the 2022 season, and even though Top Esports Challenger achieved more, that doesn’t matter for this tournament. This is because FunPlus Phoenix – unlike Top Esports – entered NEST 2022 with their LPL roster, which is naturally much stronger than their academy team.
This also explains why Top Esports are 15.0 underdogs to win this match, and I can’t argue with the fact that their chances to come out ahead are slim. Still, TES Challenger looked good in the 2022 season. They finished the LDL 2022 Summer in second place (Group B) and placed top eight in the playoffs.
Top Esports Challenger is also built from talented players who are bound to appear in the LPL soon, so even though I don’t believe Top Esports can defeat FPX, I trust them to put up a fight. It’s important to remember that FunPlus Phoenix have been out of action for a month now. Moreover, there are reports that most of FPX’s squad is looking for a new home for the 2023 season, so the morale in the team can’t be high.
Since this is FPX’s first match in a while, I expect them to look a bit sloppier, which just might give Top Esports a chance to snatch one map away from them. So at 4.00, a bet on Top Esports doesn’t look that bad,
Top Esports +1.5 maps
$4 (1 Unit)
BLINK vs KTRL
European Pro League Season 3
BLINK reached the European Pro League Season 3 playoffs with a solid but not convincing performance in Group A, where they placed second with a 2-1 record. The Kosovar squad kicked off the tournament with a close 2-1 victory against Enhanced (16-8, 12-16, 16-14) and added another closely fought W against eClub Brugge (12-16, 16-14, 16-10), before losing against KRC Genk Esports (17-19, 16-14, 14-16).
KRTL have achieved even less in their group (Group C), which they finished with just one win (1-2) against iNation, winning with 16-4, 13-16, and 16-7. But KRTL were far less impressive when faced with Budapest Five (13-16, 16-11, 11-16) and JiJieHao Intl. (12-16, 12-16).
Based on the teams’ results from the group stage, it’s tough to favour one side over the other, and I would even argue that KRTL had a rougher schedule. BLINK have achieved more this season, but they haven’t shown anything over the last two months, with early exits from ESEA Season 42: Advanced Division – Europe, European Pro League Season 2, and CCT South Europe Series #1.
There is no clear favourite for this match, and I won’t be surprised by any result. So while I would argue that KTRL are slightly stronger, BLINK at 2.25 are a much more appealing bet.
BLINK to win
$2.25 (1 Unit)
